Study Your Diet
Today is going to be a little harder than the previous two days as it will involve a bit more work on your end. But first, let’s break out that food journal and write today’s date followed by your mantra:
I care about my health and make healthy choices.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about what you’re going to be doing today. You’re going to want to keep your food journal close by because you’re going to track everything you eat and drink today. Since you’ll also be classifying everything you eat, you’ll want to pay careful attention to ingredients lists. If you haven’t already done so, now would be a great time to print out the NOVA Quick Reference.
IMPORTANT! Don’t try to change your diet yet. We’ll take that on a piece at a time from day 10 onwards. For now, we just want to study what we’re eating and learn how the classification system works. This can be a bit confusing at first, so feel free to post your questions below if you’re unsure on something.
Today’s Checklist
If you’re following along with the 40FRESH Challenge, here’s your homework for today:
Read this post
Dig into the details of the NOVA Groups
Journal everything you eat and drink
Classify your consumption
Formatting Your Log
As you log what you eat, you’re going to want to break it down by the following categories:
- Drinks
- Snacks
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner
Don’t worry if you skip a meal or don’t snack (total madness!). Just leave that section blank. Using your NOVA Quick Reference, make a note of the classification next to everything you ate. Your log should look something like this:
Drinks
- Apple juice – Group 1
- Starbucks blonde vanilla latte – Group 4
- Grapefruit LaCroix – Group 4
- Water – Group 1
- Wine – Group 3
Snacks
- Granola bar – Group 4
- Cheetos – Group 4
- Salted peanuts – Group 3
Breakfast
- Scrambled eggs – Group 2
- Avocado toast – Group 4
Lunch
- Subway sandwich – Group 4
- Sun Chips – Group 4
Dinner
- Grilled steak – Group 2
- Caesar salad – Group 4
- Roasted potatoes – Group 2
Hang on, what??
If you’re staring at the food log above and feeling utterly confused by the groupings, don’t worry – you’re not alone. After all, it’s a bit confusing that, for instance, grilled steak is considered group 2 while a caesar salad is group 4. Isn’t salad healthier than steak?
To unravel this dichotomy, it’s helpful to understand the motivations behind the classification system. Carlos Monteiro, creator of the NOVA system, wanted to push people away from foods that were designed to be overconsumed and back toward home cooking.
Let’s examine this closer, taking a look at group 2 (fats, oils, sugars, and salt). You might find it a bit shocking these items are considered group 2 while a slice of whole wheat toast is considered group 4. However, when used judiciously in home cooking, they can add flavor and be a part of a healthy diet. And despite what we’ve been told about the benefits of whole wheat toast, the reality is that it is chock full of additives, preservatives, and flavor enhancers.
Let’s go through each above one by one to understand how we arrived at the group designation.
Drinks
Apple juice – Group 1
So this one could actually vary depending on what kind of apple juice you buy. Assuming you buy a juice with no added sugar or preservatives like Simply Apple Juice, you’re dealing with a group 1 food. On the other hand, what if you drink one of your kid’s boxes of Honest Kids Apple Juice? Well, now you’re at group 4 due to the additives and “natural” flavors. Those additives change the grouping.
Starbucks Blonde Vanilla Latte – Group 4
Plain old coffee is actually a group 1 and so is milk. Where things take a turn is the vanilla flavoring, which comes from Torani syrups. As you can see from the ingredients list, it has numerous preservatives and natural flavors. Automatic group 4.
Grapefruit LaCroix – Group 4
This one is probably a head scratcher for a lot of you. How can sparkling water be equivalent to a sugary coffee drink? It all comes back to the “natural” flavors, which automatically put a food in group 4. You’ll be surprised to find how pervasive natural flavors are in your foods. Unfortunately, food and drink manufacturers aren’t required to disclose what’s in natural flavors, so we have no idea what we’re actually consuming.
Water – Group 1
Needs no explanation. Nothing but H2O.
Wine – Group 3
This one shows up in the last bullet of group 3. No confusion here.
Snacks
Granola bar – Group 4
Aren’t these supposed to be healthy? If you take a look at the front of a Quaker Oats granola bar box, for example, you’ll see claims like this:
- 100% whole grains
- No artificial preservatives
- No artificial flavors
- No added colors
On the surface, everything looks great, right? However, if you look at the ingredients, you will see several added flavors, preservatives, fats, and sugars.
Cheetos – Group 4
I think this one is pretty obvious.
Salted peanuts – Group 3
Unsalted peanuts would actually qualify as a group 1 food, but due to the added salt, that bumps it up to a group 3. Again, this might be confusing because it’s just a combination of a group 1 food plus a group 2 item (salt). One would think this makes it a group 2 item. However, manufacturer added salt and sugar is the key distinction here. That’s what drives this up to a group 3.
Breakfast
Scrambled eggs – Group 2
For this one, I’m going to assume that the eggs were made in a pan with a little bit of butter and a splash of milk. The eggs and milk by themselves are group 1, but the butter moves this up to a group 2. Word of caution here–there are actually several types of butter that have natural flavors.
Avocado toast – Group 4
The avocado is group 1, but pretty much all bread falls into group 4. There are rare exceptions (like traditional sourdough without preservatives), but they are few and far between.
Lunch
Subway sandwich – group 4
Lots of things in the sandwich that could catapult this into group 4. Just to name a few: cheese (with added color and preservatives), processed meats, bread, mayonaisse.
Sun Chips – group 4
Again, hoping this is obvious. Not much in the way of real food in Sun Chips.
Dinner
Grilled Steak – Group 2
I’m going to assume you’re not a monster and you salted your steak, which would move the steak (group 1) to a group 2 due to the seasoning. Maybe you even threw in a pat of butter (also group 2). Yum!
Caesar salad – Group 4
The lettuce itself is group 1, but chances are you not only used parmesan cheese (group 3 or 4), but you also added breadcrumbs (group 4) and store bought salad dressing (also group 4).
Roasted potatoes – Group 2
By now, I’m hoping that you’re starting to get the hang of this classification business. The potatoes are group 1, but chances are you seasoned them with salt and tossed them in an olive oil, which are both group 2.
Up Next...
Whew, tough one today. You’re making fantastic progress! And best of all, you just graduated the first phase of 40FRESH. Go ahead and put a big ol’ X on your tracking calendar–you deserve it.
Don’t worry if you’re still confused. We’ll make things a little easier to follow when we get into the 40FRESH Rules on day 7 and day 8. Tomorrow we enter the planning phase where we’ll start setting ourselves up for sustaining healthy habits. When you’re ready, head over to day 4.